Fabric-trimmer



(No Model.)

J. W. DEWEES'.

FABRIC TRIMMER. No. 355,148.-` Patented Deo. 28, 1886.

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lmmlml-Illlii lm N. PETERS. PhuwLmgnpl-Aer. wnshi c UNTTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN Wl. DEWEES, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

FABRIC-TRININIER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 355,148, dated December 28, 18.86.

Application filed November 30, 1383. Serial No. 113,169. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern: A

Be it known that I, JOHNW. DEwEEs, a citizen of the United States, residing at the city of Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fabric- Trimmers; and I do hereby declare the following to bea full, clear, and exact description of the invention, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification, in which Figure lis a front elevation of a sewingmachine with myimprovements applied. Fig. 2 is a detail view of mechanism for rocking shaft. Fig. 3 is a side elevation7 with elothplate in section, of a sewing-machine with my improvements applied. Fig. 4 is a detail of a moditication, and Fig. 5 a plan, partly broken away, of presser-foot.

My invention has for its object to effect the trimming of hosiery or other fabric by abrasion or rupture, as set forth in Letters Patent of the United States heretofore granted to me, dated October 3l, 1832, butby means whichrconstitute a modification of the special mechanism shown and described in said Letters Patent. In said Letters Patent are shown and described two toggle-levers with blunt opposing edges and means for rocking the same to effect the separation of the fabric. Such rocking action producesa blow, in the same sense as a car-wheel in rolling upon a track strikes or pounds the latter. I have discovered thatthe saine substantial effect as is produced by the rocking of the edges of two blunt levers*that is to say, the separation or rupture by abrasion of a fabric-may be secured by mechanism in which the actuating devices consist of an anvil or bar and a hammer or striker.

My invention consists in the combination,-

. with the stitch-forming mechanism of a sewinging the latter, substantially as hereinafter described.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, A represents a sewingmachine which in the illustration is a Villcox & Gibbs machine, but may be obviously any other well-known or suitable sewing-machine. B is the bed-piece of said machine; O, the cloth-plataand D the main shaft. To the face or end of said bedpiece there is rigidly secured in any suitable manner an upright, E, which is Shown as fastened by screws e. Said upright has its end .projecting through a slot or opening, c, in the cloth-plate O. Said upper end may be on a may project a slight distance-say one-thirty second of an inch-above such plate. This upright constitutes an anvil or striker-bar, and its upper edge maybe blunt or flat, rounded, or beveled.

F represents a hammer or striker,consisting of a handle or lever having one end fastened to a rock-shaft, G, its other end having a head, H. Said head H may be caused to strike directly on the anvil or bar E; but l prefer to provide it with a bit,h,litted in a groove, h,in said head and adjustably secured thereto bya screw7 h2, passing through a slot, h3, ins-aid bit and entering a threaded opening in the head H.

Then the shaft Grocks,the bitJz strikes the anvil or bar E, and if fabric be interposed between said bit and anvil it will be separated by the blow, and if such fabric be fed along, as when being sewed on a machine, the rupture produced will be a clean line or edge. To

g, pivotally connected with a lever, I, having a strap or collar, fr', encircling an eccentric,K, on main shaft D; or, as a modification, (shown in Fig. 4,) the arm g may be held by a spring, L, in contact with a cam, M, on said shaft, whereby the shaft G will be rocked as shaft D rotates.

The motion of the trimmer will be so timed relatively to the sewing-machine that the striker or hammer and the needle will rise and fall together, or so that said striker will lbe elevated when the fabric operated on is being fed.

N represents the presser-foot provided with level with the upper surface of plate C, or it.

rock the shaft G it is furnished with an arm,

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xo chine with the trimmer and presser-foot herein described is the same as'with machines having other styles of trimmers; but themanner in which the trimmer operates is different from that of any trimmer produced previous to my invention. As already stated, separation of the fabric in the present case is produced bya rupturing or abrading action,as with my aforementioned patented trimmer; but in the present case the rupturing results from the direct 2o blow of a rising-andfalling hammer, while in the patented trimmer the same result is accomplished by the rocking'action of two levers.

The hammer and anvil herein described are composed of hard material-such asis usually employed as the constituents of hammers and anvils-in order that they may perform-their functions as trimmings-jaws, operating to effeet the division of fabric by rending, crushing, or rupturing the latter by percussive,

3o crushing, or abrading action, as distinguished from cutting with a sharp edge or edges, and that they and each of them may be affected as little as possible by the attrition of thehammer or movable jaw or striker.

I amA aware that it has been heretofore proposed to trim fabrics by what are known as choppers,77 in which a sharp-edged knife or chiselis caused to descend upon a plate of metal-such as lead orbrass-which,while com l l4o paratively hard, is yet sufficiently soft to per,

mit the use of a soft cutting-tool, and particularly that such a trimmer was constructed by James E. Vilson, of Chicago, Illinois, the blade being sharp-edged, and the resistance-plate or opposing surface or die being brass-a construction usually adopted in button-hole cutters; but my invention ditfers therefrom in that in my `case both the impinging surfaces are vof metal sufficiently hard to resist the 5o crushing action of theimpinging surfaces, thus producing a rupturing or crushing operation, while in the Wilson and button-hole cutters the resistance-plate is of comparatively' soft metal. The resistanceplate in the Wilson device was made of brass. The movable chisel,

being harder metal and having a sharp edge, indented and injured the soft plate and soon rendered the cutting process imperfect and unsatisfactory.

What I claim as my invention is as follows:

1. In a sewing-machine trimmer, the combination, with the stitch-forming mechanism, of a straight-edged blunt trimmingjaw having its edge parallel with the line of feed, a ilatfaced hammer or striker arranged above said trimmingjaw, and means whereby said ham mer isicontinuously reciprocated during the sewing operation, so as to strike squarely against said trimming-jaw, said striker or hammer and jaw being composed of metal sufficiently hard to resist the crushing action of the opposing impinging surface, and operating to trim fabric by rupturing, crushing, or abrading the latter, substantially as shown and described.

l2. In combination with the stitch-forming mechanism of a sewing-machine, an anvil or support adjacent thereto having its supporting-surface parallel with the line of feed, a blunt hammer or striker above said anvil, and mechanism for reciprocating said hammer so as to cause it to strike against said anvil or support, said anvil and hammer being composed of metal sufficiently hard to resist the crushing action of the opposing impinging surface, and operating to trim fabric by rupturing, crushing, or abrading the latter, substantially as shown and described.

3. In combination with the stitch-forming mechanism of a sewingjmachine, an anvil or support adjacent thereto having its supportingsurface parallel with the line of feed, and a hammer or striker,with mechanism for producing a reciprocating movement thereof, whereby said hammer or striker and said anvil are made to impinge one against the other, said anvil and hammer or striker being composed of metal sufficiently hard to resist the crush- 'ing action of the opposing impinging surface,

and operating to trim fabrics by rupturing, crushing, or abrading the latter, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand this 28th day of November, 1883.

JOHN W. DEWEES.'

Witnesses:

M. D. CoNNoLLY, WILL H. POWELL.

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